The Securities and Exchange Commission is getting back to basics as it considers an update to financial reporting rules.

The Commission on Wednesday issued a “concept release” outlining some of the questions it is considering as part of a disclosure rules review. The release runs 340-pages and considers some fundamentals as it begins a months-long process to potentially update the rules.

The SEC in December 2013 recommended a “comprehensive evaluation” of rules that govern how much and what type of information companies must disclose in their annual and quarterly reports.

SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White said in a statement Wednesday that the commission is trying to balance competing interests of investors who “want more, not less, information” and those of companies who complain about “requiring unnecessary, immaterial disclosures.”

Wednesday’s report considers such bedrock questions as whether new rules should be based on broad principles or whether the SEC should prescribe more specific rules. The release also tries to define the audience for financial reports.

It then delves into specific items. Those include defining intellectual property, description of property, off-balance sheet arrangements and disclosure about corporate sustainability efforts.

“It’s really going through the nitty, nitty gritty,” said Danielle Carbone, head of the capital markets team at law firm Reed Smith LLP.

She added that the process is needed, as many of the rules haven’t been updated since the 1960s. But she cautioned the process could take more than a year, as investors, companies and their financial advisers weigh in.